The most valuable resource in my ministry is a wooden file cabinet
Adobe
"Yes, you are the consummate filer which makes your sermons, studies, writings so memorable. I'm so grateful for all I learned (besides filing) from our time at Cedar Park together."
I received this encouraging email last year from Bob Biederman, a good friend and pastor who was on our church staff while I was serving a church in Philadelphia, PA. Bob recently retired after five decades of ministry, most of which were spent with Literacy and Evangelism International, a parachurch ministry that uses the Bible to teach English to non-English speaking people.
How blessed and encouraged I was to hear how one particular aspect of my ministry impacted him.
And then a few months ago I was asked by a young man, "Tom where do you get all of your stories and ideas for sermons and for writing your daily 'Leadership Thoughts?'"
My answer was simple, "I try to file everything I read or hear so I won't forget them." Even personal experiences that might have future value, I make a note of and file them away, so they might become available for future use.
If you were to come into my home today, you would see a four by six foot hand crafted wooden cabinet built by a member of a former church I served. Inside the cabinet there are five large drawers containing thousands of 3-5 cards.
In the early 1970's I started the habit of filing everything I thought would be of future value. When I read a good story, or heard a good quote, I would hand write the information on a 3/5 file card and file it away.
Then when photocopiers were invented, I got smarter, and I would give the information to a secretary who would then copy the material I had noted, and paste the information on file cards and file the information for me.
Today, I save lengthy articles in my 'computer file cabinet,' a wonderful time-saving device that makes filing so much quicker and easier.
Today, I still rely on that old wooden file cabinet that contains so much information I have stored away.
I try to read every day, and now when I find a valuable story or article that I want to save, I put it in a file folder that goes into one of my many steel file cabinets.
Filing is a wonderful way of retaining good ideas and information. It has been an invaluable resource for me throughout my ministry, and it has saved me valuable time in developing messages and writing sermons
John Maxwell has said, "Good material is like golden nuggets...The most precious commodity is not money; it is ideas," and I think he is right. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don't read and file. It is a habit that has been of immense value to me.
But you say, "Tom, I am not a speaker, so I don't need to file away information."
I would say to you, "You need to do it." For some day someone might be helped by something that you have learned and filed away, and you now possess the resources and the wisdom to address that need.
If you want to keep growing, start filing. Develop your own system that fits your personal needs, and you will always have 'water in your well.'
The number one-time waster in life is looking for things you have lost, and the reason you have probably lost them is because you haven't filed them, so start filing today. Tomorrow you will be glad you did.
 | Tom Crenshaw serves as Connections Pastor of the New Monmouth Baptist Church (non denominational) where he previously served as a three year interim.He has been married to Jean for almost 50 years, and they have four children, all of whom are teachers.Tom loves perennial gardening, umpiring high school baseball, coaching baseball and football, fishing for small mouth bass, rooting for his favorite team, the Cleveland Indians, and listening to ‘real’ country music, the classic kind. Learn More » |
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